


A Pleasant Othermass Evening

by neveralarch



Category: Doctor Who, Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 08:30:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/607843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neveralarch/pseuds/neveralarch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Braxiatel's Othermass party does not go to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Pleasant Othermass Evening

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aralias](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralias/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide, aralias! This is a treat fic that got kind of out of hand - sorry if it's a little rough.

The Othermass tree was perfect. Not too small, not too large, delicate but not spindly, devoid of gaudy ornaments but swathed in tiny white lights. Tasteful.

Tasteful was a good word to describe all of Braxiatel's decorations. His rooms looked their absolute best, and he had even taken a few sculptures out of the Collection for the occasion. The tables were laden with treats and deceptively alcoholic drinks. The dulcet tones of a pianalaika played through the rooms. Very tasteful.

The first of Braxiatel's guests rang the bell, and he signaled for the doors to let them in. The guest list had been carefully constructed of interesting people who would all find that something had come up halfway through the night and they needed to leave early. As Leela was on an assignment with Narvin and the CIA, this would leave Braxiatel alone with Romana. If everything went to plan, which it would.

"Your home is so lovely," said Lady Vorpaxtril. Braxiatel smiled. The rest of the guests drifted in around him, chattering their politely interesting chatter.

Romana turned up only a few hours late, slightly earlier than Braxiatel had expected.

"Happy Othermass, Brax," she said. "I haven't got much time, so I can only stay for-"

"I cleared your calendar," said Braxiatel, smoothly. "We wouldn't want our Lady President working herself to the bone on Othermass, of all nights."

"Yes, but there's always something to do," began Romana, but Lord Trynova interrupted this time.

"Here, Braxiatel! This flaxweed cake is delicious!"

"Flaxweed cake?" Romana was wavering.

"With Heartshaven liqueur," said Braxiatel. "There are only a few pieces left, I'm afraid."

"Perhaps I can stay for a little while," said Romana, and walked very quickly to the dessert table. Soon Braxiatel could hear her slapping Captain Sidthara's hand away from the cake plate.

Everything was going to plan. The first guests would begin to trickle away, drawn by work and House obligations. Soon it would be just Romana and himself, and Romana could be trusted to be much more open to his advances when she was stuffed with good cake and holiday cheer. It would be the best Othermass in several years.

Braxiatel rubbed his hands together and beamed at the crowd.

His expression became much more fixed and much less genuine as the whirring cranking sound of a familiar old TARDIS flooded the room. The guests looked around, smalltalk dwindling away.

A blue telephone box materialized around the tree. 

"Blast," muttered Braxiatel.

The TARDIS door swung open. "Hullo!" called the Doctor. It was the one with a velvet coat and long dark curls, this time. "Hullo, Brax! I heard you were having a party, so I thought I'd stop by. It's not Othermass without family, is it?"

"Who told you?" asked Brax, already resigned. The blue TARDIS clashed with his decor.

"It's something mother used to say, isn't it?" The Doctor leaned out into the room and waved at Romana, who waved back. "Othermass is a time for family, a time for the close ties of blood and-"

"No," said Brax. "Who told you about the party?"

"Oh," said the Doctor, and stepped out. A crowd of people filed out behind him. "I ran into some mutual friends who were fighting Cybermen. On Othermass! I had to help. Here are some CIA operatives, don't actually know them, or, I suppose I do now. But here's Narvin, and Leela-"

"We have returned, Brax!" Leela was covered in blood and oil, and Brax watched in glum horror as the disgusting mixture dripped from Leela's bare legs onto the previously pristine floor. "We have slain many enemies, and now we shall celebrate!"

"Leela!" Romana waved her over with a fork. "Leela, I saved a piece of flaxweed cake for you!"

"You put some effort into this, Braxiatel," said Narvin, looking around the room. "I didn't think you actually cared this much about the traditional holidays."

"Oh, we used to have the best Othermass parties at home," said the Doctor, putting his arm around Narvin's shoulders. Narvin stiffened, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice. "Candycones, and mistlefinger over the doorways - Papa would even make snow in one of the vats for us to play with."

Brax remembered when the young Doctor had saved up extra snow in one of the storage rooms for weeks, waited until the night before Brax went back to the academy, and then crept up while Brax was sleeping and stuffed the snow down the collar of his nightrobe. It had been horribly cold, and Brax had slept on the chaise-lounge for the rest of the night since his bed was soaking wet. 

"We had such fun when we were children, didn't we, Brax?" said the Doctor. Narvin had ducked out from under his arm and made his escape to the food tables.

"Oh, yes," said Brax, flatly.

Most of the food was gone now, decimated by hungry CIA agents. Most of the guests Brax had _invited _had left, as they were politely interesting people and politely interesting people were often put off by the Doctor's much more rude and exuberant version of interesting. Leela and Romana were feeding each other cake. As Brax watched, Leela licked some of the frosting off of Romana's fingers. Romana smiled, fondly.__

__So much for plans._ _

__"These sculptures are beautiful," said the Doctor, leaning in close to a sapphire Monan bust. "Who is this by? T'ronz?"_ _

__"I thought all of T'ronz's work had been destroyed in the Great Galactic Fire," said Narvin. He was holding a glass of eggwog, but his eyes were sharp. "Interfering with the Great Galactic Fire is a first-degree temporal felony, Braxiatel."_ _

__"A copy, I'm afraid," said Brax._ _

__"A perfect copy," muttered the Doctor. "I'd swear this had T'ronz's fingerprints on it, quite literally-"_ _

__Narvin was staring between the sculpture and Braxiatel, looking even more suspicious than usual. Brax hooked two fingers in the Doctor's collar and dragged him away. "A word," he said. "If you please."_ _

__The CIA agents were gathered around Leela and Romana, cheering as Leela threw her arms around Romana and kissed her as enthusiastically as she could. Under normal circumstances Romana would have probably pushed Leela away until they could find somewhere a bit more private, but tonight, drunk on holiday cheer and probably flaxweed cake, she was kissing back and her hands were finding their way up Leela's tunic._ _

__"Too much liqueur in the cake," said Brax, regretfully. Ah, there went Narvin, shooing his agents away and hustling Romana and Leela out of the party. Good idea - Brax didn't want his party to become an orgy. Perhaps they would just leave, and he could forget about this whole disaster. Or, no, they were headed for Brax's bedroom. Blast again._ _

__"Have I ruined something?" asked the Doctor, cheerfully enough but with a slight tinge of apology._ _

__"As long as you don't manage to have me arrested for rescuing that bust, I won't be any worse off than I was this morning," said Brax. True enough, though he would have to call in extra cleaning staff to deal with all the cyberoil the CIA agents were tracking around._ _

__"I just wanted to wish you a happy Othermass," said the Doctor. "Oh - and give you this." He produced a large package from a much smaller pocket._ _

__The gift was wrapped in Earth newspapers from 1857 and 2006, and held together with purple duct tape. Brax carefully shredded the paper._ _

__Inside was a painting of a woman with one delicately raised eyebrow._ _

__"It's the Mona Lisa," said the Doctor, helpfully. "One of them, anyway. I'm almost certain that this is the real thing."_ _

__"It's very thoughtful," said Brax. He already had one Mona Lisa, but he thought the duplicate would look very nice, displayed side by side. Benny would be amusingly bewildered. "Thank you, Theta. I'm afraid I didn't get you anything."_ _

__"It's just good to see you," said the Doctor, with warm sincerity. "Happy Othermass, Brax."_ _

__A rhythmic thumping was coming from Brax's bedroom. All of the CIA agents looked up as they heard Narvin start to swear, muffled by something, and Leela and Romana's laughter could be clearly heard through the door. Brax sighed._ _

__"Happy Othermass, Doctor," he said. "Come on, I kept some of the cake in the storage cabinet."_ _


End file.
